


Penguin Shuffle

by saltylikecrait



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animals, Alternate Universe - Penguins, Crack, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Kylo is a Bully, The AU no one asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22155829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltylikecrait/pseuds/saltylikecrait
Summary: At the end of each Antarctic summer, the emperor penguins of the South Pole journey to their traditional breeding grounds in a fascinating mating ritual. Join mated pair, Finn and Rey, as the new parents learn that the hardest part of bringing a chick into the world is keeping it alive long enough to hatch.
Relationships: Finn/Rey (Star Wars)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 21
Collections: Finnrey Fanfic Connection





	Penguin Shuffle

**Author's Note:**

> I have returned to Finn/Rey with an AU no one expected!
> 
> Warning: this fic is not factually accurate.

“Careful. _Careful.”_

It was a delicate operation they were undertaking. Rolling an egg from the feet of one parent to another wasn’t easy, especially when one mistake could cost them the life of the little one resting inside.

Neither penguin parent knew what they were doing, but they took time to watch the more experienced parents exchange eggs, mother to father. Finally, Rey got an idea. She flexed her feet, planting her talons firmly into the ice and raise up. The green-white egg slid forward slowly.

Finn watched as the egg rolled closer to his feet. Using his long beak, he guided the egg further until it slid fully and securely onto his own webbed limbs.

Both penguins sighed with relief. 

Craning her neck down, Rey gently caressed their egg, wishing she didn’t have to leave it and Finn for so long. Her food reserves, stored in her stomach, were running low. Soon hunger would keep her from thinking about anything else.

“I’ll miss you,” she told Finn. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“We’ll be just fine,” he assured her. “When you get back, our little one will be all ready to meet their mama.”

She raised her head and crossed beaks with her mate. “Stay safe,” she whispered.

“You too,” Finn wished.

Waddling to join the other females, Rey stopped before she reached the end of the colony and looked back one last time. Flapping his wings, Finn did his best to see her off.

Within a few minutes, Rey and the rest of the females were out of sight.

Finn was not alone for long. He was in good company.

“How’d the exchange go?” Poe waddled up to him slowly, balancing his own egg.

“I was a little worried at first,” Finn admitted. “But we managed.” He raised the brood pouch up, revealing the egg tucked safely in for warmth. “How ‘bout you?”

Poe showed off his own egg. “I’m an old pro!”

They moved over to join groups of other males, knowing once winter hit, they would want to conserve as much energy as possible. One of the most senior penguins, Han, made room for them.

But just as Finn was about to take his place in the group, one penguin slid on his stomach in front of him, forcing Finn to make a sudden halt.

The egg wobbled on his feet. Finn held his breath until it sat still again.

“Kylo,” Han growled to his son. “What are you doing? Why aren’t you going back to the sea?”

The male penguin got up, older than Finn and towering over him. “Oops,” he sneered, feigning innocence. “I lost track of the time.” He turned to glare at Finn, a deep scar running down his face. It was rumored he got it after a run-in with a leopard seal. There were doubts he fought it off like he claimed, but he still barely escaped with his life.

It was also well-known that Rey had been his first choice for a mate, and when she rejected him in favor of Finn, he didn’t hide his bitterness towards the other male. The other females he might have had a shot with quickly sensed this anger and kept their distance from him.

What was odd though, was his lack of wanting to go back to the sea to hunt and try again next year. No male that sat through subzero temperatures without an egg to hatch was sane.

Finn, Han, and Poe chased him away from their group, forcing Kylo to join a smaller huddle. He stared in Finn’s direction, making it known to his competition that he wasn’t pleased.

The expectant father got a terrible feeling this would be a long winter.

* * *

He lost count of how long he’d been waiting for the worst of the weather to pass. At least a month, he hoped. The Antarctic air blew bits of ice and snow against the huddled penguin colony, their backs facing the elements to protect the future of their species.

At last, it was his turn to be in the middle of the group. It was the warmest he’d felt in hours.

The expectant father penguin dozed until the others let him know his time was done. A little disappointed with how fast his time passed, he moved back to the perimeter made of other males.

He did not see the penguin waiting to sabotage him through the gusts of winter.

Stumbling, Finn slid against the ice, cursing Kylo. The other penguin laughed.

“Oh no…” Finn breathed as he looked across him on the ice.

The egg! The egg had fallen off his feet! He had to get it back before it froze.

Quickly, he approached it and tried to push it back on with his beak. He only had maybe a minute to get it warm again, or all of this would be for nothing. It would break Rey’s heart if he lost their chick.

“Come on. _Come on,”_ he chanted desperately. Each time the egg hit the edge of his foot, it would roll to the side.

Another beak joined in the effort. “Need some help there, big deal?” 

Han used his feet to push the egg against Finn’s carefully, the pressure raising it off the frozen ground. Using their beaks, they slowly rolled it back to its father.

Crisis averted.

Turning around to face his son, Han glared at Kylo. “What the hell was that? You want to kill a chick? Do you enjoy that?”

“It was a-"

Han turned to his side and slapped Kylo in the face with his wing, forcing him to the ground. When he got up, his face got another wing, this time from Finn.

The other penguins left their huddle to help chase Kylo off. They pecked their beaks at him, hit with their wings, chirped threats at him, anything to get him to leave.

“Father!” he shouted. “You’d leave your own son out in the cold?”

“Natural selection if you ask me,” Han barked. 

Kylo sighed and turned around, knowing when he was defeated. He vanished into the storm.

“Egg okay, big deal?” 

Finn paid the nickname no mind, too concerned about his chick. He checked it over. “No cracks,” he sighed. “It’s alive.”

The other penguins welcomed them back to the huddle before they turned their backs to the storm again, hoping the sun would show up again soon.

* * *

The first stirrings of the egg under his brood pouch woke him up from his nap. It was warm again; the sun shining above and the wind tolerable, some of the males already had hatchlings to care for.

Excited, Finn lifted the pouch to look at the egg. No cracks yet, but it was definitely moving. 

Poe waddled over to look at it. “It thinking about it?” he asked.

“Maybe?” Finn said excitedly. “How long will it be?”

The other penguin shrugged. “A few hours. Maybe a day or two. They make it out on their own time.”

It wasn’t what Finn was hoping to hear, but he’d waited this long, he could wait another day to see his little one for the first time.

And when that time came and he looked into the face of his newborn chick, he touched them gently with his beak to tell himself the moment was real. He fell in love instantly, something he thought he would only feel for Rey. Finn quickly realized how wrong he'd been.

“Hello my sweet one,” he whispered. 

They chirped their first sounds, wanting the comfort of a parent. Finn soothed them back under the safety of the pouch to keep them warm. 

“Mama will be back soon,” he said. And the sooner the better. He only had enough to feed two for a few more days. Soon, Finn would feel the gnawing edge of hunger in his stomach. Most of all, he wanted to reunite with Rey and introduce her to the tiny life they made together.

They would be a family again.

* * *

His excitement heightened again when a few days later, the first females were spotted in this distance. The males chirped, calling out to them, hoping their mate was among their number.

Finn waited to hear the sound of Rey’s voice. He would know hers anywhere.

It was a few more hours of waiting, but he finally heard her.

“Finn!”

He raised his head up looking for the source of the sound. “Rey!”

They kept calling out for each other, seeking one penguin out of a sea of black and white. As their voices grew closer to each other, the chick keeping warm under their father’s feathers began to chirp and flap their tiny wings.

And then, he finally saw her. She was the most beautiful penguin he’d ever seen and seeing her, healthy and well-fed reminded Finn why he fell in love with her.

They touched beaks, celebrating their reunion for one sweet moment before Finn remembered it wasn’t just the two of them anymore.

“Are you ready to meet your son?” he asked her ecstatically. 

Rey nodded her head, wide-eyed.

Raising the brood pouch again, their tiny chick stuck his head out, blinking up at the penguin in front of him. Rey lowered her head, her beak stroking the fluffy feathers of their son.

“My baby,” she said with awe.

“Doesn’t he look like you?” Finn said proudly. “I’m sure his feathers will be black and white, just like his mother’s.”

He didn’t want to interrupt this moment though. Their chick knew who this new penguin was almost like an instinct. He chirped, flapping his little wings and begging for his mama’s attention. It was magical to watch.

“Kinda scrawny, don’t you think?” a voice sneered behind them.

Rey groaned. “Go away Kylo, I’m bonding.”

“You could have had my chick. Our brood would have been strong.”

“If there’s anything less than perfect about my son, I’m blaming you, egg-dropper,” Finn shouted.

His mate looked horrified. _“Egg-dropper?”_

“Yeah, Kylo here decided if it wasn’t his egg, any egg of yours shouldn’t survive. He tripped me so I would drop our egg.”

The entire colony seemed to hear this and at once, hundreds of black heads stared in the direction of the lone penguin. 

Kylo didn’t even have a chance to defend himself before an army of angry mothers charged at him, forcing him to flee the colony by sliding away on his belly.


End file.
